CARRICK didn't realise he had scored so early amid the bedlam of the Edinburgh derby and explained how his strike could spark a civil war in his family.

Hearts' Dale Carrick (3rd from left) is congratulated by his team-mates after scoring the opening goal

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HEARTS goal star Dale Carrick has told his family he’s up for a capital derby reunion next season in the SPFL Championship.

The Scotland Under-21 striker scored the goal of his life at Tynecastle yesterday as the Jambos avoided the ignominy of being relegated by rivals Hibs.

His volley in the sixth minute came in front of the visiting fans in the Roseburn Stand including, he gleefully admitted afterwards, members of his own clan.

His third strike of the season set Gary Locke’s side on their way to a 2-0 victory, only their sixth win in a troubled league campaign, and plunged Hibs perilously close to a play-off spot.

Hearts are still certainties for the drop and could go down on Wednesday at home to Aberdeen or even this weekend at Partick Thistle.

But for now there is just relief that the ultimate bragging rights did not return to Easter Road.

Carrick said: “It was a great start. I hadn’t realised we scored so early on.

“I thought we had played about 12 or 15 minutes but I was told afterwards it was six. I was so happy with it.

“It all just happened so quickly that I didn’t know what to do for the celebration. It was great for the fans – and it was at the Hibs end too. I don’t think I need to say any words about that.

“I had family and friends in that end so I don’t think I’ll be talking to them for a while. Seriously, I had uncles and cousins in there, great-grandparents and all that.

“We’ve got a bit of both in our family, Hibs and Hearts, so there’s always some good banter among us.

“The Hibs ones have always told me just not to score against their lot but I did it today. I didn’t dream of scoring this week but it has always been a thing from when I was playing under-12s, that I’d make the Hearts first team and score against Hibs. From that point of view, it’s a dream come true.

“I scored quite a few goals against Hibs at youth level.

“We would always beat them and it was good to get three or four against them. This tops everything though.

“It’s great to do it for the first team and we deserved it.

“The communication in our team was great and we ran that extra yard to make sure we won. It worked for us.

“There’s a possibility Hibs could yet join us in the Championship next season. Yeah, I’d say so. Would I like to see that happen? Yeah, it’s great having derbies so we might as well have them next season.”

Carrick revealed how much the goal meant to him when he wandered into the media room at Tynecastle afterwards clutching a poster of John Robertson from the matchday programme.

He had collared Hearts coach Robbo after the game and demanded the Hammer of the Hibs autograph the poster for his grandfather, a diehard supporter of the Tynecastle club.

“I’ll give it to my grandad so he can keep it, he’ll definitely appreciate that.

“He’ll have gone to the pub for the game so I’ll talk to him later.

“However, I probably won’t see those in my family who support Hibs for a couple of weeks. That said I might phone them in a couple of hours just to see how they’re doing.

“It’s great for me to score in the derby match the way Robbo once did.

“He’s the Hammer of Hibs and it’s great to join him on the scorers’ list.”

Hearts players celebrated long and loud at the end as Billy King’s injury-time second sparked a mass exodus of gloomy Hibs supporters.

They had earlier seen their side reduced to 10 men when veteran defender Alan Maybury was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence, a foul on winger King.

Hearts boss Gary Locke later admitted his players have finally learned how to cope with life in the top flight of the Scottish football, even if it has come too late on the back of their 15-point penalty for slipping into administration.

However, Carrick conceded the very least they owed their fans for their unstinting support since the summer was not to have the Gorgie ground turned into a party for the green-and-white brigade.

Carrick said: “The message was just to go out and play, work your socks off and we would secure the result we needed. And we got it.

“We wanted to end their party and start ours. We wanted to stop them. We were built up by the gaffer. We knew we needed to win, that we had to do it.

“We were in the mood anyway. You always go into the derby thinking, ‘Today we’re going to win this’.

“It was gut-wrenching when we heard St Mirren had taken a point in Inverness on Saturday afternoon.

“However, we knew we were going to win because it was against Hibs. We were not going to be relegated by them.”